Wax On? Wax Off! How to Get Wax Out of Carpets

A candle on a winter night is a wonder, isn’t it? A flickering light in a warm home with a world outside that’s frosted white – it doesn’t get more picturesque than that.

When that candle falls onto the carpet, though, the whole situation rapidly loses its cozy aesthetic. The “Christmas Card” vibe evaporates as you scramble to save your carpets from the hot wax.

If this happens to you, just pull up this guide from your friends at Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning.

What You’ll Need
Spoon
Ice Pack
Knife
Terry-Cloth Towel
Iron

Let’s Get Cleaning
– Step 1 –
If you’re able to act right away, use a spoon to scoop up as much of the wax as possible. Try to scoop towards the center of the spot so you don’t spread the wax around.

– Step 2 –
Once the wax has hardened, put an ice pack on top of it and let it freeze the wax. You may want to put the ice pack in a plastic bag so it doesn’t leak on the carpet.

– Step 3 –
Use a knife to break apart the frozen wax and remove as much of it as possible. Even if you can’t remove any wax, at least roughen its surface for the next step.

– Step 4 –
Lay a terry-cloth towel over the wax and set your iron to a low or medium heat setting.

– Step 5 –
Go over the towel with the warm iron at short intervals; this will melt the wax and the towel will absorb it. Continue treating the spot until no more wax comes up.

Make sure you regularly switch to new parts of the towel so you’re not reheating the already absorbed wax.

Also, if you ever feel like the carpet is getting too hot, take a break and let the carpet cool off. You want to be very careful with the iron, as leaving it on one spot for an extended period of time could damage the carpet.

After this, the wax itself should by and large be gone. If there’s any left in the carpet, try using a solvent based cleaner to remove whatever’s left.* If the candle wax had a dye in it, you may need to follow up this treatment with a spotting method designed to remove the dye.